Granny Flats and elderly relatives.

therealpieboy

Hi, My dad is coming to live in a granny flat conversion that we have had built, Are there any benefits that either of us can claim.
He is 67 and retired. He is a widower with only a small pension and no private pension provision of his own.

He does own a house however that he is renting out.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

tanith

If he has rental income as well as his pension he may well be over the limit for means tested benefits although if he has care or mobility needs he may be able to claim for those... I can't think of anything you could claim for other than carers allowance if you Dad is sick and needs caring for...

Oldernotwiser

tanith wrote: »

If he has rental income as well as his pension he may well be over the limit for means tested benefits although if he has care or mobility needs he may be able to claim for those... I can't think of anything you could claim for other than carers allowance if you Dad is sick and needs caring for...

You can only get CA under certain conditions, one of which is if the father gets AA.

Benefits_Bod

tanith wrote: »

If he has rental income as well as his pension he may well be over the limit for means tested benefits although if he has care or mobility needs he may be able to claim for those... I can't think of anything you could claim for other than carers allowance if you Dad is sick and needs caring for...

The age of the father means that rental income from a property other than the one being occupied as his home will be entirely disregarded for Pension Credit / HB / CTB.

The primary difficulty *may* be the capital value of the property being let. The capital value could be entirely disregarded if the occupier is a close relative or the occupier is aged over 60 or is incapacitated. It is also disregarded if the property is occuped by a former partner if s/he is not estranged or divorced from the claimant.

Even if the property is not disregardable under the exceptions set out above, the value *may* still be affected by the presence of a tenant. In calculating the value of a property, 10% of the market value is disregardable in any case and, additionally, so is any encumbrance secured on the property (e.g. outstanding mortgage / loan).

Further, for State Pension Credit, there is no capital limit.

So, there may be entitlement to Pension Credit.

Further, if the OP's father is charging rent, there *may* also be legitimate entitlement to Housing Benefit. HOWEVER, HB will only be payable IF:

a) the granny flat is fully and demonstrably self-contained / separate from the main premises (otherwise the tenant may be regarded as residing with a close relative who is his LL); and

b) the agreement / tenancy is on a commercial basis; and

c) the liability has not been created to take advantage of the HB scheme.

There are other caveats, but the above are the above matters are most likely to be at issue.

If the claimant is entitled to the Guaranteed element of Pension Credit, all income and capital will be disregarded for HB purposes - even if the capital exceeds £16,000.